Tag Archive 'Jane Austen'

Did PC arise to fill the missing manners gap?

With the publication of Jonathan Alter’s new book on the first year of the Obama administration, a lot of unsavory details are leaking out about No Drama Obama (Mr. Calm and Collected) and his crew.  We already know now that Obama refers to those Americans who oppose him as Tea Baggers, a sexually unsavory term. [...]

If I could have an author write the man in my life

If through some magical alchemy I could get some of my favorite authors to write into being the man in my next life (I’m planning on being reincarnated), the authors, in chronological order, would be:  Jane Austen, Dorothy Sayers, Georgette Heyer, Neville Shute and Linda Howard.  Do any of you have writers who create characters [...]

The moral of the story

‘Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.’ — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland. In times past, teachers, parents and moralists frowned upon fiction because it was not considered elevating writing.  It neither taught concrete skills nor high moral lessons.  By the 17th Century, writers started to find a way around that problem [...]

No wonder he served as her literary inspiration

I couldn’t resist a minute to blog about this one:  An exquisite miniature of Tom Lefroy has emerged in England.  He is the man nobody knows under his real name, but everyone knows under his immortal literary alter ego:  Fitzwilliam Darcy.  Thus, while it’s not 100% certain that he served as Jane Austen’s model for [...]